ANTM Cycle 8- Spoiler!

So I know how annoying it is when you inadverdantly find out who the winner is before you watch the finale- this has happened to me in the past 2 seasons. Last time, my friend casually dropped the bomb in conversation. And this time, I caught a glimpse of it on yahoo.com! ARGH. Anyways- don't say I didn't warn you not to scroll down!

Admittedly, this show is getting old. One can only take so much overdramatic girl cat fights before starting to wonder if they're delibrately making up something out of nothing. And after all these seasons, the girls all start to seem similar to those from past seasons. And they must've ran out of countries, because really Tyra, Sydney Australia? AGAIN? I was expecting something more exotic and new. The only thing that keeps me watching are the makeovers (its crazy what a huge difference hair, make-up and styling tips can do), the ever innovative shoots (although there weren't too many really exciting ones this season) and the glimpses into the fashion industry.

Granted I didn't like any of the girls in particular at the beginning and wasn't really vouching for anyone, I was disappointed with the two finalists- Natasha and Jaslene. They not only looked awful when they're not doing a job (this is AFTER they've had their make overs and well into the season- they just look like two badly dressed girls on the streets. And someone should just tell Natasha that she looks bad in skinny jeans)..

..but they also looked awful in the final judging in these Sass & Bide creations, with that make-up and hair. On a side note, I thought that it was kind of cool that they got to do a Sass & Bide runway- I didn't even know that they were Australians! And that runway show they were doing with the view of the Opera house- I was just there 5 months ago!
Ultimately though, between the two, I was glad that Jaslene won even though she didn't even make it into the house the last season- although this kind of makes me wonder whether she really made a huge transformation or whether the quality of the girls this season is just really bad. I'm leaning towards the latter.

But anyway, I thought she rocked the runway and she took consistently good pictures. Also, I liked her character better. She was a bit more genuine and all.

Especially compared to Natasha. The other models are right, she did appear really fake and annoying. And yet the judges just seem to be blinded by her exuberant personality. Can't they see that the things she says are not cute but obnoxious? She always had to twist any criticism she got into a good thing- can't the girl just take the criticism as it is? Although one does have to give her points for improvement. I thought her cross dressing shoot as a guy was pretty well done.
The girl I most wanted to win though, was Renee. I thought she did really well in everything. She had a great personality, her photos were consistently good and most importantly, she totally rocked the Cover Girl commercial while the other two finalists completely flunked it- honestly, I just wanted to wince watching! The only reason I can see why she got eliminated was because she looked "old," which is unfair since she can't help it and she's only 20. And really, if make-up, hair and photoshop can make Jaslene and Natasha look so good in photos as opposed to real life, they can make Renee look younger. Perhaps ANTM can't have another winner who looked so much like the last winner? One criticism for Renee- what kind of name is "Nee Nee"?? It sounds so ridiculous and stupid.

The rest of the season...was mediocre. There weren't too many photoshoots that I remembered that made too much of an impression on me. Other models- I couldn't believe that Jael made it so far. She should've been eliminated way before, like when she made a fool of herself in that celeb party annoying 50 cent. And her image, I get that she's trying to be different, but to me, it was just as if that girl couldn't decide whether to be girl and nice or rock, punk and cool. Britney, I was sympathizing with her short term memory thing, but Dionne made a good point when she said she remembered all the lines in the acting challenge. Also, I thought she was getting too cocky about her photos in the end and was just a huge melodramtic whiner. Oh and I liked Whitney the Dartmouth student. I thought she was very eloquent and smart- too bad she never got her act together with the photos.

And lastly, I just wanted to make a comment about Tyra. I know she's retired and everything, but what is with the outfits she's been wearing on the show? They look awful. If I knew how to take screenshots from videos, I can go on and on for a whole post on her fashion mistakes.